With the increase of gambling at gaming venues has come increased competition between gaming venues to obtain a larger share of the total gambling spend. Gaming venue operators have therefore continuously looked for new variations and types of games in order to attract both new and return customers to their venues.
In response to this need, suppliers of gaming machines, devices and systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety, while still developing games that comply with the relevant regulations in the jurisdiction of the gaming venue operator. Suppliers of gaming devices therefore are faced with restrictions on the types of games and gaming machines that are allowable, both in terms of the prevailing regulations and in terms of providing a return on investment to the gaming venue operators.
Despite these restrictions, gaming machine suppliers have had some success in developing different mechanisms for awarding awards.
One example of an award mechanism is a mystery progressive jackpot, in which a plurality of linked gaming machines contribute to a progressive jackpot until the value of the jackpot reaches a certain ‘trigger’ amount. The trigger amount is typically randomly determined within a fixed range. The progressive jackpot is then awarded to the gaming machine that caused the jackpot to reach or exceed the trigger amount.
There remains a need in the gaming machine industry to provide alternative award mechanisms.
Any reference in this specification to the prior art does not constitute an admission that such prior art was well known or forms part of the common general knowledge in any jurisdiction.